Kirscht, Leonard

KIRSCHT

Posted By: Volunteer (email)
Date: 3/29/2010 at 01:04:36

Leonard Kirscht

(From the 1883 History of Pottawattamie County, Iowa, by J. H. Keatley, p.35, Council Bluffs)
L. Kirscht, Wholesale grocer, Council Bluffs, was born in Germany in 1829, and served three and a half years in the Prussian Army. In 1854, he came to America, and, in 1856, was married at Hillsdale, Mich. From Hillsdale, Mich., he went in the fall of 1856 to St. Joseph, and came to Council Bluffs May 11, 1861; here he opened a retail grocery, in which he met with good success, and gradually increased his business until he is now doing an extensive wholesale trade, employing four men in the store and one traveling salesman. He carries about $30,000 worth of stock, and his yearly sales amount to about $100,000, and are steadily increasing. Mr. Kirscht served in the City Council in 1869 and 1870, and has been Township Trustee for many years. He has a family of six children, all living at home; he Las a fine residence on Glen avenue; he is a staunch Republican. Mr. Kirscht's mother came to Council Bluffs June 25, 1881, and died in August, 1882, aged nearly seventy-one years.

(source unknown)
On the list of those who at one time figured actively in the business life of Council Bluffs and of Omaha, appears the name of Leonard Kirscht, now deceased. He was known as Captain, holding that rank in the state militia, for he was appointed Captain of the Council Bluffs Rifles by Governor Stone in 1864. He came to this city in 1861, and was well known to the German American residents of Pottawattamie county. A native of Germany, he was born December 3, 1828. His parents spent their entire lives in that country, where the father engaged in farming in order to provide for his family. He died there, however, during the early boyhood of his son Leonard, and the mother afterward came to America to live with her children, dying at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Tholl, in Council Bluffs.
Captain Kirscht obtained a good education in the schools of his native country and when yet a young man served in the army in accordance with the laws of his native country. When his education was completed he left home and sailed for America, crossing the Atlantic in a sailing vessel which was four months in completing the voyage. Landing in New York city, he proceeded thence to New Jersey, where he worked as a farm hand for a short time. He then came to the middle west, locating near Hillsdale, Michigan where he carried on general farming.
While living in that locality, Captain Kirscht was married to Miss Henrietta Green, a native of Germany, in which country her parents died during her early girlhood, after which she came to the United States with friends. There were six children born to Captain and Mrs. Kirscht: Lena, who became the wife of Alexander Mason and died in 1900; Emma, now the wife of Henry P. Butler, traveling passenger and freight agent for the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad Company and a resident of Council Bluffs; Mary, who resides with her mother and attends to much of the business connected with the estate; Katherine, now the wife of H. W. Cowduroy, living in Omaha, being manager of the Omaha City Paving & Asphalt Company; Leonard P., who died in Council Bluffs in 1898; and Elizabeth, the widow of John L. Clark. Her husband, who died February 12, 1902, was a very prominent and influential resident of Omaha, who at the time of his death was occupying the position of paying teller in the United States National Bank of that city, where he had been employed from his boyhood days, having gradually worked his way upward to a position of prominence and responsibility. His widow, Mrs. Clark, now resides with her mother.
After his marriage Captain Kirscht continued to make his home near Hillsdale, Michigan, for a short time and then removed to St. Joseph, Missouri, where he engaged in the manufacture of crackers, establishing a large cracker factory, from which he annually sent out large shipments. He carried on the business with gratifying success until 1861, when he sold out there and came to Council Bluffs. Shortly after his arrival in this city he entered into partnership with William Groneweg, who is now in the wholesale grocery business here. They opened a retail grocery house on Broadway and conducted the store for seventeen years with mutual pleasure and profit. They soon built up a good trade and established the business which was the foundation of the present extensive wholesale house now conducted by Mr. Groneweg. When seventeen years had passed Captain Kirscht removed his business to No. 414 and 416 West Broadway, where he carried on u. retail grocery house for several years. He had many patrons and did a large and profitable business, continuing in the same until 1893, when he sold out and removed to Omaha. There he established a wholesale liquor business, which he conducted until 1899, when he severed his business connections with that city and returned to Council Bluffs, where he lived retired until his death, which occurred on the 11th of March, 1901. He had been a, resident of this city and this section of the country for about forty years.
Captain Kirscht's friends desired him to become a candidate for the office of mayor on several different occasions but he always declined, never caring for positions of political preferment. He was, however, a stanch republican, in thorough sympathy with the principles of the party and did what he could to promote its success. He belonged to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and had many friends among its members. In all of his business life he was energetic and determined, carrying forward to successful completion whatever he undertook. As he prospered he invested his money largely in property and was thus enabled to leave his family in very comfortable financial circumstances.
Mrs. Kirscht is a member of the German Lutheran church, but the Captain was a communicant of the Catholic church. She owns much valuable property in Council Bluffs and also farm property in different parts of Nebraska, her business interests being managed by her daughter Mary. Her residence is a beautiful brick structure at No. 128 Glen avenue, where she and her children reside and which they built in 1864.